Mobile terminal and method of performing multi-focusing and photographing image including plurality of objects using the same

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a mobile terminal and a method of capturing an image using the same. The mobile terminal controls a camera conveniently and efficiently to capture an image and performs focusing in various manners to capture an image. Accordingly, a user can obtain a desired image easily and conveniently.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/351,591, filed on Jan. 9, 2009, currently pending, whichclaims the benefit of earlier filing date and right of priority toKorean Application No. 10-2008-0087800, filed on Sep. 5, 2008, thecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

This document relates to photographing images, and more particularly, toa mobile terminal capable of controlling a camera efficiently andconveniently to capture an image and a method of photographing an imageusing the same.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

As the functionality of terminals, such as personal computers,notebooks, and mobile phones, is diversified, the terminals have beenimplemented as multimedia players capable of performing complexfunctions. For example, the complex functions performed by the terminalsinclude capturing images and video, playing music or video files,providing games, and receiving broadcasts.

Terminals can be divided into mobile terminals and stationary terminalsaccording to their motility. Mobile terminals can also be divided intohandheld terminals and vehicle mount terminals depending on how they arecarried while moving.

In order to support and increase the functionality of terminals,structural and/or software portions of the terminals have beencontinuously improved. In recent years, a touch screen has been adoptedby a variety of terminals including mobile terminals. The touch screentends to have a large screen and is used as an input and output deviceto meet various needs of a user to overcome physical limits, such as thesize of the terminals. Further, efforts have been made to diversify thecomplex functions of the terminals as multimedia players according tothe needs of users and to provide a user interface (UI) capable ofperforming these functions conveniently.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminalcapable of controlling a camera using a touch screen conveniently andefficiently to effectively photograph a desired image a method ofphotographing an image using the same.

In one aspect of the present invention, a mobile terminal comprises acamera; a touch screen; and a controller configured to display a previewimage that includes at least one object and is captured through thecamera on the touch screen, to display a first guide including aspecific point on the preview image in a predetermined size whenreceiving touch input applied to the specific point, to determine afocusing area for focusing on an object corresponding to the specificpoint while varying the size of the displayed first guide, to performfocusing on the image based on the determined focusing area and tocapture the focused image.

In another aspect of the present invention, a mobile terminal comprisesa camera; a touch screen; and a controller configured to display apreview image captured through the camera on the touch screen, todisplay a guide including a specific point on the preview image whenreceiving touch input applied to the specific point, to perform focusingon the image based on the specific point and to adjust the position of alens included in the camera to finely adjust the focusing when apredetermined touch trace is input.

In another aspect of the present invention, a mobile terminal comprisesa camera; a touch screen; and a controller configured to display apreview image captured through the camera on the touch screen, toperform multi-focusing on plural points on the preview image whenreceiving touch input for designating the plural points and to capturethe multi-focused image.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of capturing animage in a mobile terminal equipped with a touch screen comprises thesteps of displaying a preview image that includes at least one objectand is captured through a camera on the touch screen; displaying a firstguide including a specific point on the preview image in a predeterminedsize when touch input applied to the specific point is received; anddetermining a focusing area for focusing on an object corresponding tothe specific point while varying the size of the displayed first guide,performing focusing on the image based on the determined focusing areaand capturing the focused image.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of capturing animage in a mobile terminal equipped with a touch screen comprises thesteps of displaying a preview image captured through a camera on thetouch screen; displaying a guide including a specific point on thepreview image when touch input applied to the specific point is receivedand performing focusing on the image based on the specific point; andadjusting the position of a lens included in the camera to finely adjustthe focusing when a predetermined touch trace is input.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of capturing animage in a mobile terminal equipped with a touch screen comprises thesteps of displaying a preview image captured through a camera on thetouch screen; performing multi-focusing on plural points on the previewimage when touch input for designating the plural points is received;and capturing the multi-focused image.

According to the mobile terminal and the method of photographing animage using the same according to the present invention, a user cancontrol a camera conveniently and efficiently and perform focusing on animage in various manners and then capture the image.

Furthermore, in the use of a face recognition function, the user canscan only an intended area of a preview image without scanning theentire preview image to effectively detect a face from the previewimage, and thus the quantity of resources used for the face recognitionfunction can be remarkably reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent upon consideration of the followingdescription of preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a front side of a mobile terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a perspective view of a rear side of the mobile terminalshown in FIG. 2A.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are front views of a mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention showing an operating state.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the proximity depth of aproximity sensor in a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating image capturing in a mobile terminalequipped with a touch screen according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 6A to 6E and 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating image capturingvia a touch screen of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating image capturing via a touchscreen of a mobile terminal according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating image capturing in a mobile terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 10 to 15 are diagrams illustrating the image capturing processshown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating image capturing in a mobile terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 17 to 23 are diagrams illustrating the image capturing processshown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating image capturing in a mobile terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 25 to 37 are diagrams illustrating the image capturing processshown in FIG. 24.

FIGS. 38, 39 and 40 are diagrams illustrating an example to whichembodiments of the present invention are applied when a panorama imageis photographed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawing figures which form a part hereof, and which show byway of illustration specific embodiments of the invention. It is to beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in this technological field thatother embodiments may be utilized, and structural, electrical, as wellas procedural changes may be made without departing from the scope ofthe present invention. Wherever possible, the same reference numberswill be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similarparts.

A mobile terminal related to the present invention will now be describedin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be notedthat the suffixes of constituent elements used in the followingdescription, such as “module” and “unit”, are simply used by consideringthe easiness of writing this specification, but are not particularlygiven importance and roles. Accordingly, the terminologies “module” and“unit” can be uses interchangeably. Further, a mobile terminal describedin this specification may include, for example, mobile phones, smartphones, notebooks computers, terminals for digital broadcast, personaldigital assistants (PDA), portable multimedia players (PMP), andnavigators.

FIG. 1 illustrates components of a mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention. The mobile terminal 100 includescomponents such as a wireless communication unit 110, an audio/video(A/V) input unit 120, a user input unit 130, a sensing unit 140, anoutput unit 150, memory 160, an interface unit 170, a controller 180,and a power supply 190. The components shown in FIG. 1 are notindispensable, but it is understood that a mobile terminal havinggreater or fewer components may alternatively be implemented.

The wireless communication unit 110 may include one or more modules,enabling wireless communications between the mobile terminal 100 and awireless communication system or between the mobile terminal 100 and anetwork where the mobile terminal 100 is located. For example, thewireless communication unit 110 includes a broadcast receiving module111, a mobile communication module 112, a wireless Internet module 113,a short-range communication module 114, and a position-location module115.

The broadcast receiving module 111 receives broadcast signals and/orbroadcast associated information from an external broadcast managingentity via a broadcast channel. The broadcast channel may include asatellite channel and a terrestrial channel. The broadcast managingentity refers generally to a system, which generates and transmitsbroadcast signals and/or broadcast associated information, or a system,which receives previously generated broadcast signals and/or broadcastassociated information and provides them to a terminal. The broadcastsignals may be implemented as TV broadcast signals, radio broadcastsignals, and data broadcast signals, among others. If desired, thebroadcast signals may further include broadcast signals combined with TVor radio broadcast signals.

The broadcast associated information refers to information associatedwith a broadcast channel, a broadcast program or a broadcast serviceprovider. The broadcast associated information may also be provided viaa mobile communication network and received by the mobile communicationmodule 112.

The broadcast associated information may exist in various forms. Forexample, the broadcast associated information includes an electronicprogram guide (EPG) of digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), orelectronic service guide (ESG) of digital video broadcast-handheld(DVB-H).

The broadcast receiving module 111 may be configured to receivebroadcast signals transmitted from various types of broadcast systems.By nonlimiting example, such broadcasting systems include digitalmultimedia broadcasting-terrestrial (DMB-T), digital multimediabroadcasting-satellite (DMB-S), media forward link only (MediaFLO®),digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H), and integrated servicesdigital broadcast-terrestrial (ISDB-T). It is also to be understood thatthe broadcast receiving module 111 may be configured to be suitable forother broadcast systems, which provide broadcast signals, as well as thedigital broadcast systems. The broadcast signal and/or broadcastassociated information received via the broadcast receiving module 111may be stored in the memory 160.

The mobile communication module 112 transmits/receives radio signalsto/from a base station, an external terminal, and an entity over amobile communication network. The radio signals may include variousforms of data according to transmission/reception of voice call signals,video telephony call signals and text/multimedia messages.

The wireless Internet module 113 refers to a module for wirelessInternet access. This module may be internally or externally coupled tothe mobile terminal 100. For example, wireless Internet technologiesinclude wireless LAN (WLAN) (Wi-Fi), wireless broadband (WiBro), worldinteroperability for microwave access (Wimax), and high-speed downlinkpacket access (HSDPA).

The short-range communication module 114 refers to a module forshort-range communications. For example, suitable short-rangecommunication technologies include BLUETOOTH, radio frequencyidentification (RFID), infrared data association (IrDA), ultra-wideband(UWB), and ZigBee.

The position-location module 115 is a module for identifying orotherwise obtaining the location of a mobile terminal 100. Arepresentative one of examples of the position-location module 115includes a global positioning system (GPS). According to the currenttechnology, the GPS module 115 can calculate three-dimensional positioninformation on the basis of latitude, longitude, and altitude withrespect to one point (object) on a specific time by calculatinginformation about the distance of the one point (object) from three ormore satellites and information about the time where the distanceinformation was measured and then applying trigonometry to thecalculated distance information. A method of calculating position andtime information using three satellites and modifying error of thecalculated position and time information using another satellite is alsoused. The GPS module 115 also continues to calculate a current locationin real-time and calculates velocity information based on the currentlocation.

Further referring to FIG. 1, the A/V input unit 120 is configured toinput audio or video signals. The A/V input unit 120 may include acamera 121, a microphone 122 and the like. The camera 121 receives andprocesses image frames of still pictures or video obtained by an imagesensor in a video call mode or a photographing mode. The processed imageframes may be displayed on the display 151.

The image frames processed in the camera 121 may be stored in the memory160 or transmitted to the outside via the wireless communication unit110. Two or more cameras 121 may be included according to theconfiguration aspect of a terminal.

The microphone 122 receives external sound signals in various modes,such as a phone call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognitionmode, and processes the sound signals into electrical voice data. Theprocessed voice data can be converted into a form, which can betransmitted to a mobile communication base station through the mobilecommunication module 112, for example, in the phone call mode, and thenoutput as a sound or voice via the output unit 150 such as an audiooutput unit 152. Various noise removing algorithms for removing noiseoccurring in the course of receiving external sound signals may beimplemented in the microphone 122.

The user input unit 130 generates input data responsive to usermanipulation of an associated terminal or terminals. Examples of theuser input unit 130 include a keypad, a dome switch, a jog wheel, a jogswitch, and a touchpad, such as static pressure/capacitance.

The sensing unit 140 senses a current status of the mobile terminal 100and generates a sensing signal for controlling an operation of themobile terminal 100. For example, the sensing unit 140 detects anopen/close status of the mobile terminal 100, a position of the mobileterminal 100, a presence or absence of user contact with the mobileterminal 100, orientation of the mobile terminal 100, andacceleration/deceleration of the mobile terminal 100. For example, whenthe mobile terminal 100 is configured as a slide-type mobile terminal,the sensing unit 140 senses whether a sliding portion of the mobileterminal 100 is open or closed. Other examples include the sensing unit140 sensing the presence or absence of power provided by the powersupply 190, the presence or absence of a coupling or other connectionbetween the interface unit 170 and an external device. The sensing unit140 may further include a proximity sensor 141 which is described belowin more detail.

The output unit 150 is configured to generate outputs associated withthe sense of sight, the sense of hearing, tactile sense, and so on andmay include a display 151, the audio output unit 152, an alarm unit 153,a haptic module 154 and the like.

The display 151 displays information processed in the mobile terminal100. For example, when the mobile terminal 100 is in a phone call mode,the display 151 displays a user interface (UI) or a graphic userinterface (GUI), which is associated with a phone call. When the mobileterminal 100 is in a video call mode or a photographing mode, thedisplay 151 displays photographed and/or received images, UI or GUI.

The display 151 may be implemented using known display technologiesincluding, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin filmtransistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), an organic light-emittingdiode display (OLED), an a flexible display and a three-dimensionaldisplay. Some of the displays 151 may be configured in a transparenttype or a light-transmitting type, enabling the outside to be seentherethrough. This is called a transparent display. Representativeexamples of the transparent display include a transparent LCD. Some ofthe displays 151 may also be configured in a rear-side structure orlight-transmitting type of the display 151. Such configurations enable auser to see objects located in the rear of a terminal body through anarea occupied by the display 151 of the terminal body.

Two or more displays 151 may be present according to the configurationtype of the mobile terminal 100. For example, a plurality of thedisplays 151 may be arranged with them being spaced apart from eachother or integrally on one surface of the mobile terminal 100 andarranged on different surfaces of the mobile terminal 100.

When the display 151 and a touch sensor, which is a sensor for sensing atouch operation, constitute a mutually layered structure or a touchscreen, the display 151 may also be used as an input device as well asan output device. The touch sensor may have a form such as a touch film,a touch sheet, and a touch pad.

The touch sensor may be configured to convert a change in the pressureapplied to a specific portion of the display 151 or electrostaticcapacitance occurring at a specific portion of the display 151 into anelectrical input signal. The touch sensor may be configured to sensepressure at the time of touch as well as a touched position and area.

When a touch input is received by the touch sensor, a correspondingsignal(s) is sent to a touch controller. The touch controller processesthe signal(s) and transmits corresponding data to the controller 180.Thus, the controller 180 can determine which area of the display 151 hasbeen touched.

The proximity sensor 141 may be positioned in an internal area of themobile terminal 100, which is surrounded by the touch screen, or nearthe touch screen. The proximity sensor 141 refers to a sensor forsensing objects approaching a specific detection surface or whetherobjects exist nearby without a direct contact by employingelectromagnetic force or infrared rays. The proximity sensor 141 has alonger lifespan than that of a contact type sensor and also hasincreased efficiency.

Examples of the proximity sensor 141 include a transmit typephotoelectric sensor, a direct reflection type photoelectric sensor, amirror reflection type photoelectric sensor, a high frequencyoscillation type proximity sensor, an electrostatic capacitance typeproximity sensor, a magnetic type proximity sensor, and an infraredproximity sensor.

When the touch screen is an electrostatic type, the touch screen isconfigured to sense the proximity of a pointer based on a change inelectric field according to the proximity of the pointer. In this case,the touch screen (touch sensor) may be classified as a proximity sensor.

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, a behavior in which apointer comes close to the touch screen without touching the touchscreen and, therefore, the pointer is recognized as if it exists on thetouch screen is referred to as a “proximity touch”, and a behavior inwhich a pointer is actually touched on the touch screen is referred toas a “contact touch”. A proximity touch position of the pointer on thetouch screen refers to a position where the pointer verticallycorresponds to the touch screen when the pointer becomes the proximitytouch.

The proximity sensor 141 is configured to sense a proximity touch actionand a proximity touch pattern, which includes, for example, a proximitytouch distance, a proximity touch direction, a proximity touch speed, aproximity touch time, a proximity touch position, and a proximity touchmoving status. Information corresponding to the sensed proximity touchoperation and the proximity touch pattern may be output on a touchscreen.

The audio output unit 152 may output audio data, which is received fromthe wireless communication unit 110 or stored in the memory 160, invarious modes including a call-receiving mode, a call-placing mode, arecording mode, a voice recognition mode and a broadcast reception mode.The audio output unit 152 outputs audio relating to a particularfunction, for example, call received or message received, which isperformed in the mobile terminal 100. The audio output unit 152 may beimplemented using receivers, speakers, buzzers, and the like.

The alarm unit 153 outputs signals to inform the occurrence of events inthe mobile terminal 100. For example, the events occurring in the mobileterminal 100 include signals, including call-received andmessage-received, a key entry signal, and a touch input. The alarm unit153 may also output signals to inform the occurrence of events indifferent ways other than the audio or video signal, for example,through vibration. The video signal or the audio signal may also beoutput through the display 151 or the audio output unit 152.

The haptic module 154 generates a variety of haptic effects which can befelt by a user. One of representative examples of the haptic effects,which are generated by the haptic module 154, includes a vibrationeffect. The intensity and pattern of vibration generated by the hapticmodule 154 can be controlled. For example, different vibrations may becombined or output or sequentially output.

The haptic module 154 may generate various haptic effects, for example,an effect caused by the stimulus of arrangement of pins, which movevertically to a contact skin surface, an effect caused by a stimulusthrough spraying force or suction force by the air through an injectionnozzle or an inlet, an effect caused by a stimulus passing over the skinsurface, an effect caused by a stimulus through the contact of anelectrode, an effect caused by a stimulus employing electrostatic force,and an effect caused by the reappearance of a feeling of cold and warmthemploying an element that may absorb or generate heat, as well as thevibration effect.

The haptic module 154 may be implemented to not only transfer the hapticeffects through a direct contact, but also make the haptic effects feltthrough a user's body parts such as a finger and an arm. Two or morehaptic modules 154 may be included according to a configuration of themobile terminal 100.

The memory 160 may store programs for an operation of the controller 180and also temporarily store input/output data, such as phonebook data,messages, pictures, and video. The memory 160 may store data relating tovarious patterns of vibrations and sounds, which are output at the timeof touch entry on a touch screen.

The memory 160 may include at least one type of storage media, includinga flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card microphonetype, card type memory such as SD or XD memory, random access memory(RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM),programmable read-only memory (PROM) magnetic memory, magnetic disk, andoptical disk. The mobile terminal 100 may also operate in associationwith a web storage that performs a storage function of the memory 160 onthe Internet.

The interface unit 170 is often implemented to couple the mobileterminal 100 with external devices. The interface unit 170 is configuredto receive data or power from the external devices and transfer the dataor power to each component within the mobile terminal 100 or transmitdata within the mobile terminal 100 to the external devices. Forexample, a wired/wireless headset port, an external charger port, awired/wireless data port, a memory card port, an identity module cardport, an audio input/output (I/O) port, a video I/O port, and anearphone port may be included in the interface unit 170.

The identity module is a chip that stores various pieces of informationfor authenticating usage right of the mobile terminal 100 and mayinclude a user identify module (UIM), a subscriber identity module(SIM), a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) and the like. Anapparatus equipped with the identity module or identity device may befabricated in a smart card form. Accordingly, the identity device may beconnected to the mobile terminal 100 via a port.

The interface unit 170 may become a passage through which power sourcefrom an external cradle is supplied to the mobile terminal 100 when themobile terminal 100 is coupled to the cradle or a passage through whicha variety of command signals input from the cradle are transferred tothe mobile terminal 100 by a user. The variety of command signals orpower source input from the cradle may operate as signals to recognizethat the mobile terminal 100 has been mounted in the cradle accurately.

The controller 180 typically controls the overall operations of themobile terminal 100. For example, the controller 180 performs thecontrol and processing associated with voice calls, data communications,and video calls. The controller 180 may include a multimedia module 181for multimedia playback. The multimedia module 181 may be implementedwithin the controller 180 or separately from the controller 180.Further, the controller 180 may perform a pattern recognition processingin which writing entry or drawing entry performed on a touch screen canbe recognized as text and images.

The power supply 190 provides internal power source and/or externalpower source required by various components under the control of thecontroller 180.

The various embodiments described herein may be implemented in arecording medium readable by a computer or its similar devices byemploying, for example, software, hardware or some combinations thereof.

For a hardware implementation, the embodiments described herein may beimplemented within at least one of application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signalprocessing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described herein or a selective combinationthereof. In some cases, the embodiments may be implemented by thecontroller 180.

For a software implementation, the embodiments such as procedures andfunctions may be implemented with separate software modules, each ofwhich performs one or more of the functions and operations describedherein. Software codes may be implemented using a software applicationwritten in any suitable programming language. The software codes may bestored in the memory 160 and executed by the controller 180.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a front side of the mobile terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment,the mobile terminal 100 has a bar-type terminal body. The presentinvention is not limited to the above example, but may be applied to avariety of configurations in which two or more bodies are coupled insuch a way as to move relative to each other, such as slide-type,folder-type, swing-type and swivel-type, and combinations thereof.

A body includes a case, such as a casing, a housing, or a cover,constituting an external appearance of the mobile terminal 100. In thepresent embodiment, the case is divided into a front case 101 and a rearcase 102. A variety of electronic components are built in a space formedbetween the front case 101 and the rear case 102. At least oneintermediate case may be further disposed between the front case 101 andthe rear case 102. The cases may be fabricated by injecting syntheticresin or fabricated to have metal materials such as stainless steel(STS) or titanium (Ti).

As shown in FIG. 2A, the display 151, the audio output unit 152, thecamera 121, the user input unit 130 (131, 132), the microphone 122, andthe interface unit 170 are disposed in the terminal body, mainly, on thefront case 101.

The display 151 occupies the greater part of a main surface of the frontcase 101. The audio output unit 152 and the camera 121 are disposed inan area adjacent to one of both ends of the display 151, and the userinput unit 131 and the microphone 122 are disposed in an area adjacentto the other of both ends of the display 151. The user input unit 132and the interface unit 170 are disposed on the sides of the front case101 and the rear case 102.

The user input unit 130 is manipulated in order to receive commands forcontrolling the operations of the mobile terminal 100 and may includethe plurality of user input units 131 and 132. The user input units 131and 132 may also be collectively referred to as a ‘manipulating portion’and may adopt any kind of a method as long as it has a tactile manner,which allows a user to manipulate the user input units 131 and 132 whilefeeling a tactile sense.

Contents input by first and second manipulating portions may be set invarious ways. For example, the first manipulating portion may beconfigured to receive commands, such as start, stop, and scroll, and thesecond manipulating portion may be configured to receive commands, suchas a volume control of audio output from the audio output unit 152 orswitching of the display 151 to a touch recognition mode.

FIG. 2B is a perspective view of a rear side of the mobile terminal 100.Referring to FIG. 2B, an additional camera 121′ may be mounted on a rearside of the terminal body or in the rear case 102. The camera 121′ maybe a camera, which faces a direction that is substantially opposite to adirection faced by the camera 121 shown in FIG. 2A and have pixelsdifferent from that of the camera 121.

For example, the camera 121 may be operated to capture an image of auser's face with a relatively lower resolution that is sufficient totransmit the captured image to a counterpart party during a videocommunication. In contrast, the camera 121′ may be operated to generatea relatively higher resolution image in order to obtain higher qualitypictures for later use or for communicating to others. The cameras 121and 121′ may be installed in the terminal body such that they can berotated or popped up.

A flash 123 and a mirror 124 may be further disposed adjacent to thecamera 121′. The flash 123 irradiates light to a subject when thesubject is photographed by the camera 121′. The mirror 124 is useful forassisting a user to position the camera 121 in a self-portrait mode.

An audio output unit 152′ may be further disposed on the rear side ofthe terminal body. The audio output unit 152′ may implement a stereofunction together with the audio output unit 152 of the front side, asshown in FIG. 2A, and may be used to implement a speakerphone mode atthe time of calls.

An antenna 124 for receiving broadcast signals other than an antenna forcalls may be further disposed on the side of the terminal body. Theantenna 124, constituting a part of the broadcast receiving module 111,as shown in FIG. 1, may be configured to be retracted from the terminalbody.

The power supply 190 for supplying power to the mobile terminal 100 maybe mounted in the terminal body. The power supply 190 may be configuredinternally or externally to the terminal body such that it is directlydetachable therefrom.

A touch pad 135 for sensing touch may be further mounted in the rearcase 102. The touch pad 135 may also be configured in alight-transmitting type display. When the display 151 is configured tooutput sight information from its both sides, the sight information canalso be recognized even through the touch pad 135. Information output toboth sides of the display 151 may be controlled by the touch pad 135.Unlike the above described embodiment, in one aspect of the presentinvention, a display 151 may be further mounted in the touch pad 135and, therefore, a touch screen may be disposed in the rear case 102.

The touch pad 135 may operate in association with the display 151 of thefront case 101. The touch pad 135 may be disposed in parallel to thedisplay 151 in the rear of the display 151. The touch pad 135 may have asize which is identical to or smaller than that of the display 151.

Hereinafter, an associated operation method of the display 151 and thetouch pad 135 is described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. FIGS. 3Aand 3B are front views of a mobile terminal according to an embodimentof the present invention. Various kinds of visual information may bedisplayed on the display 151. Such information may be displayed in theform of text, numerals, symbols, graphics, icons and the like.

In order to input such information, at least one of the text, numerals,symbols, graphics and icons may be displayed as a specific arrangementsuch that it may be implemented in the form of a keypad. This keypad maybe referred to as a so-called ‘soft key’.

FIG. 3A illustrates that touch applied to the soft keys is input throughthe front side of a terminal body. The display 151 may be operated overthe entire region or operated in the state in which the display isdivided into a plurality of regions. In the latter case, the pluralityof regions may be configured such that they operate in conjunction witheach other.

For example, an output window 151 a and an input window 151 b aredisplayed on upper and lower sides of the display 151, respectively.Soft keys 151 c, on which numerals for entering a number, such as atelephone number, are displayed, are output to the input window 151 b.When the soft keys 151 c are touched, numerals corresponding to thetouched soft keys are displayed on the output window 151 a. If the firstmanipulating portion or the user input unit 131 is manipulated, callconnection to a telephone number displayed on the output window 151 a isattempted.

FIG. 3B illustrates that touch applied to the soft keys is input throughthe rear side of a terminal body. While the terminal body is verticallydisposed in portrait orientation in FIG. 3A, in FIG. 3B, the terminalbody is horizontally disposed in landscape orientation. The display 151may be configured to have its output screen changed according to theorientation of the terminal body.

Further referring to FIG. 3B, a text entry mode is actuated in themobile terminal 100. An output window 135 a and an input window 135 bare displayed on the display 151. Soft keys 135 c in each of which atleast one of text, symbols, and numerals is displayed may be arranged inplural number in the input window 135 b. The soft keys 135 c may bearranged in a QWERTY key form.

When the soft keys 135 c are touched through a touch pad 135, text,numerals, or symbols corresponding to the touched soft keys, aredisplayed on the output window 135 a. As described above, touch inputthrough the touch pad 135 can prevent the soft keys 135 c from beingcovered with fingers at the time of touch as compared with touch inputthrough the display 151. When the display 151 and the touch pad 135 aretransparent, fingers located in the rear of the terminal body can beseen through the naked eye, enabling more accurate touch input.

The display 151 or the touch pad 135 may be configured to receive touchinput through scrolling, as well as the input method disclosed in theabove discussed embodiments. A user can move a cursor or pointer locatedin an object, for example, an icon, which is displayed on the display151, by scrolling the display 151 or the touch pad 135. Furthermore,when a finger is moved on the display 151 or the touch pad 135, a pathalong which the finger moves may be visually displayed on the display151. This may be useful when editing images displayed on the display151.

One of the functions of the mobile terminal 100 may be executed when thedisplay 151 or touch screen and the touch pad 135 are touched at thesame time within a specific time period. When the display 151 or touchscreen and the touch pad 135 are touched at the same time, a user mayclamp the terminal body using his thumb and index finger. One of thefunctions may be, for example, activation or inactivation of the display151 or the touch pad 135.

The proximity sensor 141 described with reference to FIG. 1 is describedin more detail with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates theproximity depth of the proximity sensor. As shown in FIG. 4, when apointer, such as a user's finger, approaches a touch screen, theproximity sensor 141 disposed within or near the touch screen detectssuch approach and outputs a proximity signal.

The proximity sensor 141 may be configured to output a differentproximity signal depending on a distance between the pointer inproximity and the touch screen, and the distance is referred to as a“proximity depth.” A distance in which a proximity signal is output whena pointer approaches the touch screen is called a detection distance. Inshort, the proximity depth can be determined by comparing proximitysignals output from a plurality of proximity sensors 141 detectingdifferent proximity depths.

FIG. 4 shows a cross section of a touch screen in which the proximitysensor 141 capable of detecting, for example, three proximity depths isdisposed. Alternatively, a proximity sensor 141 capable of detectingless than three, or four or more proximity depths is also possible.Specifically, when the pointer is directly touched on the touch screen(D₀), it is recognized as a contact touch. When the pointer is separatedfrom the touch screen at a distance D₁ or less, it is recognized as aproximity touch of a first proximity depth. When the pointer isseparated from the touch screen by more than a distance D₁ and less thana distance D₂, it is recognized as a proximity touch of a secondproximity depth. When the pointer is separated from the touch screen bymore than a distance D₂ and less than a distance D₃, it is recognized asa proximity touch of a third proximity depth. In addition, when thepointer is separated from the touch screen by a distance D₃ or more, itis recognized that a proximity touch is released.

Accordingly, the controller 180 recognizes the proximity touch asvarious input signals according to a proximity distance or a proximityposition of the pointer with respect to the touch screen and can performvarious operation controls based on the recognized various inputsignals. In the following description of the present invention, thedisplay 151 is implemented as a touch screen and the term touch screen151 will be used instead of the display 151. Further, in the followingdescription, ‘touch’ includes both a proximity touch and a contact ordirect touch. Moreover, ‘touch input’ includes all types of inputsignals corresponding to various types of touches, such as touch down,touch up, the lapse of a present sustain time subsequent to touch, dragand drop.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of capturing an image in amobile terminal equipped with a touch screen according to an embodimentof the present invention. FIGS. 6A to 6E and 7A and 7B illustrate aprocess performed on the touch screen of the mobile terminal, eachfigure corresponding to a different step in the flowchart shown in FIG.5. An image capturing method in the mobile terminal 100 including thetouch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7B.

When a camera function is selected from a menu displayed on the touchscreen 151, including the sensing unit 140, or when a camera function ofthe camera 121 or 121′ in the mobile terminal 100 is initiated inresponse to a user input received via the user input unit 130 [S210],the controller 180 displays a preview of an image input or receivedthrough the camera 121 or 121′ on the touch screen 151 [S220].

FIG. 6A shows an example in which S220 is implemented, displaying thepreview image on the touch screen 151. The preview image is displayed onthe touch screen 151 when an image is input through the camera 121 or121′. For example, the image is processed into a low-resolution imageand then displayed on the touch screen 151.

Further referring to FIG. 6A, an auto focus guide (AFG), indicating aposition on which focusing will be performed or a focus window for animage to be captured, is generally displayed at a central portion of thetouch screen 151. In one aspect of the present invention, the AFG isdisplayed at the central portion of the touch screen 151 by default whenthe camera function is initiated. Alternatively, the AFG may not bedisplayed when the camera function is initiated until a touch input isreceived on the preview image.

In the image capturing method according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, a user moves the AFG to a specific position on the touchscreen 151 such that auto focusing is performed on the specific positionwhere the AFG is displayed. For example, when a preview image displayedon the touch screen 151 includes two objects Obj1 and Obj2 as shown inFIG. 6A, the user touches any one of the two objects to select an objectto be focused. For example, in FIG. 6B, the first object Obj1 isselected by touching Obj 1 with the user's finger or a stylus pen.

When an edge with a sharpness equal to or higher than a specific levelis retrieved at the same position from image analysis of a plurality ofimages input via the camera 121 or 121′, this is referred to as anobject. According to the present embodiment, auto focusing is performedwhen the focus window is moved to a specific position on the touchscreen 151 by a user's touch input. Accordingly, in the presentinvention, focusing on an object which is not located at the center ofthe touch screen 151 is possible.

In order to perform successful focusing with respect to a position on apreview image selected by touch according to the auto focusing methoddescribed below, an object or a target on which the focusing will beperformed must be present at the selected position. Accordingly, iffocusing is performed on the selected position, focusing is performedalso on the object present at the selected position.

Accordingly, the controller 180 performs a focusing operation on anobject present at a corresponding position by focusing on a positioncorresponding to a coordinate value, which is input according to touchon the touch screen 151, thereby without determining whether the objectis present in the focus window or without conducting additional imageanalysis such as determination of sharpness for each pixel of thepreview image. If focusing fails due to absence of an object at aposition corresponding to a coordinate value input according to thetouch, the controller 180 may perform focusing on an object that isadjacent to the position by widening the AFG or focus window as wide asa preset range based on the corresponding coordinate value and thenre-performing focusing on the adjacent object.

While the number of objects displayed on the preview image is two inFIGS. 6A-8B for convenience of description, this configuration is onlyfor illustrative purpose. It is to be understood that the number ofobjects is not limited and auto focusing may be performed when two ormore objects are present on the preview image. The focusing according tothe present invention can be performed with respect to any selectedspecific position and regardless of the position of an object on thescreen. Therefore, an object that is selected by a user may be anyobject displayed on the preview image. However, the controller 180 maybe configured such that edge portions of the touch screen 151 are notselected as a position for auto focusing, as auto focusing may not beperformed successfully on the edge portions.

FIG. 7A shows an example in which the second object Obj2 is touched andselected on the preview image initially shown in FIG. 6A. The controller180 determines whether touch input has been received on the touch screen151 [S230]. While there are various types of touch input and the methodof the touch input is not limited, in the present embodiment, touch issustained for a preset period of time in order to be recognized as touchinput for auto focusing.

When the touch screen 151 is touched and the touch or contact issustained for a preset period of time, for example, one second or more,the controller 180 moves the focus window to the touched position andthen displays the AFG at the position of the focus window, as shown inFIG. 6C. Next, the controller 180 performs auto focusing at the positionof the focus window where the touch input has been received [S240].Control of the camera 121 or 121′ for auto focusing may employ a knownauto focusing mechanism depending on the type of the camera 121 or 121′.For example, the controller 180 controls focusing on the first objectObj1, present at the selected position, to be performed by directlycontrolling a lens provided in the camera 121 or 121′ and a motor fordriving the lens.

If the auto focusing on the first object Obj1 present at the selectedposition is successful [S241: Y], the controller 180 informs a user thatauto focusing has been successful via the output unit 150 [S243]. Forexample, the controller 180 outputs a shutter sound through the alarmunit 153 and/or changes the color of the AFG, as shown in FIG. 6D.Further, the controller 180 may perform one or more of a variety ofgraphic representation in combination, including the output of a sound,a change in the color of an image and/or text on the touch screen 151,flicker and the like.

Once the user is informed about the result of focusing on the firstobject Obj1 present at the selected position, the user subsequentlyinputs an image capturing command to take a picture or capture thefocused image. According to an embodiment of the present invention, theimage capturing command is released of the contact or touch, forexample, by taking off the user's finger or the stylus pen from theposition where the contact or touch is currently sustained.

Accordingly, the controller 180 determines whether an image capturingcommand has been input by a user [S250]. If it is determined that theimage capturing command has been input, the controller 180 immediatelycontrols the camera 121 or 121′ to capture an image focused on the firstobject Obj1 [S260], as shown in FIG. 6E. While FIG. 6E shows an imagecaptured by performing auto focusing on the first object Obj1, FIG. 7Bshows an image captured by performing auto focusing on the second objectObj2.

As shown in FIGS. 6E and 7B, according to the present invention, aposition on which auto focusing will be performed, that is, a focuswindow can be changed by a user. Accordingly, in a captured image, anyone object is focused and may be displayed sharply while the remainingobjects are not focused and may look blurred. Therefore, even anon-professional photographer can achieve a high-quality photograph,such that depth of a close subject is properly represented, by using theimage capturing method according to the present invention.

While the controller 180 may perform image capturing by determining theend of the contact touch as the input for an image capturing command asdescribed above, thus capturing the image right after the contact touchhas been released, the controller 180 may also be configured torecognize the input for the image capturing command when a preset periodof time has elapsed from the end of the contact touch, thus performingthe image capturing after the preset period of time since the release ofthe contact touch.

Alternatively, after the focusing has been successful after the touchhad been sustained for a preset period of time, the controller 180 mayinform a user of the successful focusing such that the user can finishthe touch input. Thereafter, if there is no additional touch input fromthe user for another preset period of time since the focusing wassuccessful or the contact touch was released, the controller 180recognizes an image capturing command after another preset period oftime since the release of the contact touch and controls the camera 121or 121′ to capture an image at that time point.

Alternatively, the controller 180 may be configured to display aspecific icon for inputting an image capturing command on the touchscreen 151 when a camera function begins or the focusing has beensuccessful such that the image is captured when the icon is selected bythe user.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a process of performing image capturing in amobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.Some of the above described features may also be applied to thisembodiment.

When the function of the camera 121 or 121′ is initiated S210 asillustrated in FIG. 5, a preview image is displayed on the touch screen151 at S220. Subsequently, the controller 180 determines whether touchinput has been received on the touch screen 151 at S230. In the presentembodiment, the position to be focused on the preview image iscontrolled by touch input comprising a “drag-and-drop” operation.

Therefore, upon receiving the touch input, the controller 180 determineswhether the touch input is a “drag-and-drop” operation. In the presentinvention, the “drag-and-drop” operation refers to touching orcontacting an AFG on a preview image screen as shown in FIG. 8A, andthen sliding a finger or a touching object from the initially contactedposition or the AFG to another position, maintaining the contact withthe touch screen 151 during the sliding, thus finishing the touch. This“drag-and-drop” operation includes a “touch-and-drag” operation.

Referring to FIG. 8A, a user performs a drag-and-drop operation bytouching the position A where the AFG is initially displayed and thensliding the finger from the touched position A to the position B wherethe first object Obj1 is positioned on the preview image. If touch inputaccording to the drag-and-drop operation is generated [S230: Y in FIG.5], the controller 180 moves a focus window to the position B where thedrop has occurred and then displays the AFG at the position of the focuswindow, as shown in FIG. 8B. Subsequently, the controller 180 performsauto focusing operation on the position of the focus window, that is,the position B where the drop has occurred [S240]. In other words,according to this embodiment, a user moves the AFG from a first positionto a second position to be focused by the “drag-and-drop” or“touch-and-drag” operation.

In one aspect of the present invention, the controller 180 is configuredto move the focus window and perform the auto focusing operation at themoved focus window only when the touch or contact is sustained at theposition B where the drop has occurred for a period of time that isequal to or more than a preset period of time. If the auto focusingoperation on the first object Obj1 or at the selected position B issuccessful [S241: Y], the controller 180 informs the user of thesuccessful auto focusing [S243] via the output unit 150 such that theuser can confirm the focusing with respect to the selected first objectObj1. Thereafter, an image capturing command is input, for example, byfinishing or releasing the sustained touch or contact touch [S250: Y],and the controller 180 controls the camera 121 or 121′ to capture thefocused image of the first object Obj1, as shown in FIG. 6E [S260].

Alternative to the above described embodiment, in one aspect of thepresent invention, the controller 180 may be configured to move thefocus window to the position B where the drop has occurred and controlthe camera 121 or 121′ to perform the auto focusing operationimmediately after the drag-and-drop operation is executed. Thereafter,if additional touch input is not entered by a user for a preset periodof time, the controller 180 captures an image when the preset period oftime elapses.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process of capturing an image in amobile terminal according to another embodiment of the present inventionand FIGS. 10 to 15 are diagrams illustrating the image capturing processshown in FIG. 9.

The image capturing process according to this embodiment may beimplemented in the mobile terminal 100 described above with reference toFIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. The image capturing process in the mobile terminal100 and the operation of the mobile terminal 100 for implementing theimage capturing process will now be explained in detail with referenceto the attached drawings.

Referring to FIG. 9, the controller 180 may display a preview imagecaptured through the camera 121 on the touch screen 151 [S300].

For example, when the mobile terminal enters an image capturing modeusing the camera 121, as shown in FIG. 10, the controller 180 cancapture a preview image 12 and display the preview image 12 on the touchscreen 151. Furthermore, the controller 180 may provide a first guide 10corresponding to the aforementioned AFG to a predetermined positionwhile displaying the preview image 12, as shown in FIG. 10. For example,the first guide 10 can be located at the center of the touch screen 151or the preview image 12 as a default position. In addition, thecontroller 180 may display a soft key 13 for receiving an imagecapturing command on the touch screen 151 as described below.

Further referring to FIG. 10, the preview image 12 may include at leastone object 11. The preview image 12 generally includes a plurality ofexistent objects because the preview image 12 is acquired by taking apicture of the real world. The controller 180 may recognize at leastpart of the objects included in the preview image 12. The object 11shown in FIG. 10 is a person and includes a first sub object 11 acorresponding to the person's face and a second sub object 11 bcorresponding to the person's body. In this document, the objectincluded in the preview image 12 is simplified for convenience ofdescription. The preview image 12 can include a plurality of variousobjects when the technical spirit disclosed in this document is actuallyimplemented.

The controller 180 may receive touch input applied to a specific pointon the preview image 12 [S310]. For example, the user can touch a pointcorresponding to the first sub object 11 a with a finger, as shown inFIG. 11.

The controller 180 may display the first guide 10 on the touched point[S320]. For example, the controller 180 can display the first guide 10,which has been displayed at the center of the touch screen 151, on thefirst object 11 a corresponding to the touched point, as shown in FIG.12.

Although the first guide 10 is automatically displayed on the touchscreen 151 when the mobile terminal enters the image capturing mode inthis embodiment, the technical spirit of the present invention is notlimited thereto. For example, when the user touches a specific point onthe preview image 12 while the first guide 10 is not provided at S300,the first guide 10 may be displayed on the touched point. The firstguide 10 provided at S300 or S320 may be displayed in a predeterminedsize.

The controller 180 may determine a focusing area for focusing on theobject corresponding to the touched point while varying the size of thefirst guide 10 displayed in the predetermined size [S330]. The focusingarea means a reference area for detecting the sharpness of an edge whenauto-focusing is performed. The focusing area may be referred to as anauto focus window (AFW).

For example, the controller 180 can determine the first guide 10 as thefocusing area when the area of the first guide 10 including the objectcorresponding to the touched point becomes a minimum size. That is, thecontroller 180 can match the AFG corresponding to the first guide 10 andthe AFW corresponding to the focusing area. The matching the AFG and theAFW may include not only 100% matching but also matching in an errorrange.

An example of the operation of the controller 180 to perform step S300is explained with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14.

The controller 180 may magnify the first guide 10 shown in FIG. 12 at apredetermined magnification and display the magnified first guide 10 asshown in FIG. 13. The magnified first guide 10 can include the first subobject 11 a on which the user wants to focus.

Referring to FIG. 14, the controller 180 may gradually reduce the sizeof the magnified first guide 10 until the first guide 10 circumscribesthe first sub object 11 a. The controller 180 may determine the firstguide circumscribing the first sub object 11 a as the focusing area.Upon determining the focusing area, the controller 180 may focus on theimage currently displayed on the touch screen 151 based on the focusingarea [S340].

The controller 180 may receive an image capturing command from the user[S350] and capture the image according to the image capturing command[S360]. The controller 180 may automatically capture the image as soonas the focusing is completed at S340.

When a face recognition function is activated and the object focusedaccording to the embodiment is a person's face, the controller 180 mayperform face recognition on the focusing area.

According to a conventional face recognition technique, the overall areaof a preview image captured through the camera 121 is scanned to detecta face. However, the present invention performs face recognition on thefocusing area, and thus the quantity of computations of the controller180 can be remarkably reduced and various resources required to performthe face recognition can be effectively decreased.

The controller 180 may provide various menus relating to imagecharacteristics when the focusing area is determined through a variationin the size of the first guide 10.

Referring to FIG. 15, the controller 180 can provide a menu window 15including various menus relating to image characteristics in thevicinity of the first guide 10. The menu window 15 may be varied withthe type of the object included in the first guide 10.

For example, when the first sub object 11 a corresponding to the firstguide 10 is recognized as a face, as shown in FIG. 15, the controller180 can provide at least one menu for varying the image characteristicof the recognized face.

In FIG. 15, menu “Face Beauty” corresponds to a function of removingblemishes of the recognized face and menu “Funny Face” corresponds to afunction of overlaying a funny image on the recognized face to interestthe user. In addition, menu “Caricature” corresponds to a function ofgiving cartoon effect or sketch effect to the recognized face.

Furthermore, the menu window 15 may include at least one menu forvarying the characteristic of the whole preview image 12 irrespective ofthe recognized object 11 a, as shown in FIG. 15. For example, thecontroller 180 can provide menu “Brightness” for adjusting thebrightness of the preview image 12 and menu “Photometry” for controllingphotometry through the menu window 15.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a process of capturing an image in amobile terminal according to another embodiment of the present inventionand FIGS. 17 to 23 are diagrams illustrating the image capturing processshown in FIG. 16.

The image capturing process according to this embodiment may beimplemented in the mobile terminal 100 described above with reference toFIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. The image capturing process in the mobile terminal100 and the operation of the mobile terminal 100 to implement the imagecapturing process will now be explained in detail with reference to theattached drawings.

Referring to FIG. 16, the controller 180 may display a preview imagecaptured through the camera 121 on the touch screen 151 [S400], whichcorresponds to step S300 according to the above embodiment.

The controller 180 may receive touch input applied to a specific pointon the preview image displayed on the touch screen 151 [S410], whichcorresponds to step S310 according to the above embodiment.

The controller 180 may display the first guide including the touchedspecific point [S42], which corresponds to step S320 according to theabove embodiment, and focus on the image based on the touched specificpoint [S430].

Steps S410, S420 and S430 may be performed according to the aboveembodiment shown in FIG. 9. For example, when the user touches the firstsub object 11 a, as shown in FIG. 17, the controller 180 can display thefirst guide 10 such that the first guide 10 includes the first subobject 11 a and focus on the image based on the area corresponding tothe first guide 10 or a reference point (for example, center point) inthe first guide 10.

The controller 180 may receive predetermined touch trace upon focusingon the image based on the specific point [S440]. For example, the usercan input circular touch trace 20 to the touch screen 151, as shown inFIG. 18.

The position of the lens included in the camera module providing theauto-focusing function can be changed or adjusted for auto-focusing, ingeneral.

The controller 180 may change the position of the lens included in thecamera 121 based on at least one of the moving distance and direction ofthe touch trace 20 [S450].

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of changing the position of the lensaccording to the touch trace.

Referring to FIG. 19, if the position of the lens 1211 when the focusinghas completed at S430 corresponds to point 0, the controller 180 maymove the lens 1211 to point F1 when the user inputs a first touch trace21 having a length corresponding to a half circuit clockwise through thetouch screen 151.

When the user inputs a second touch tract 22 having a lengthcorresponding to a circle clockwise, the controller 180 may move thelens 1211 to point F2. When the user inputs a third touch trace 23having a length corresponding to a half circle or a fourth touch tract24 having a length corresponding to a circle counter clockwise with thelens 1211 located at point 0, the controller 180 may move the lens 1211to point R1 or R2. The predetermined touch trace is not limited to theforms shown in FIGS. 18 and 19.

FIG. 20 illustrates another example of changing the position of the lensaccording to the touch trace.

Referring to FIG. 20, the user may input a fifth touch trace 26 in theform of a straight line starting from point 0 and extending to the rightthrough points A and B. When the fifth touch tract 26 reaches point A,the controller 180 may move the lens 1211 to point F1 of FIG. 19. Whenthe fifth touch tract 26 is arrived at point B, the controller 180 maymove the lens 1211 to point F2 of FIG. 19.

The user may input a sixth touch tract 27 in the form of a straight linestarting from point 0 and extending to the left through points C and D.The controller 180 may move the lens 1211 to point R1 of FIG. 19 whenthe sixth touch trace 27 reaches point C and move the lens 1211 to pointR2 of FIG. 19 when the sixth touch tract 27 is arrived at point D.

In this manner, the controller 180 can discontinuously adjust theposition of the lens. Otherwise, the controller 180 can continuouslyadjust the position of the lens.

The controller 180 may restrict the lens position adjustment range inconsideration of the physical limit of the mobile terminal 100 or thecamera 121.

On the assumption that the lens discontinuously moves to the five points0, F1, F2, R1 and R2, as shown in FIG. 19, when the user inputs a touchtrace starting from point 0 and passing through point A corresponding topoint F1 and point B corresponding to point F2, as shown in FIG. 21, thecontroller 180 cannot further move the lens 1211 in response to thetouch tract after moving the lens 1211 to point F2. In this case, thecontroller 180 may provide an information window 30, as shown in FIG.21, to inform the user that the lens position cannot be adjusted anymore.

When the user touches a confirmation button 31 included in theinformation window 30, the information window 30 may disappear from thetouch screen 151.

Furthermore, the controller 180 may output a warning message and/orwarning sound, such as a message (“it is beyond adjustment range”),through the audio output unit 152.

The controller 180 may display an indicator or a progress bar thatindicates an adjustment degree of the lens location on the touch screen151 while adjusting the lens position according to input of the touchtrace.

Referring to FIG. 22, the controller 180 can display the indicator 34 orprogress bar 33 for indicating a degree to which the lens position isadjusted when the touch trace for adjusting the lens position is input.The indicator 34 indicating the lens position may move on the progressbar 33 in response to the distance and direction of the touch trace. Forexample, when the user inputs touch trace starting from point E andpassing through points F and G, as shown in FIG. 22, the controller 180can move the indicator 34 to point 34 a corresponding to point E. InFIG. 22, the indicator 34 may move to point 34 b when the touch tractreaches point F and the indicator 34 may move to point 34 c when thetouch tract is arrived at point G.

FIG. 23 shows touch trace in a direction opposite to the touch traceshown in FIG. 22 and the indicator 34 and the progress bar 33 accordingto the touch trace. Referring to FIG. 23, the indicator 34 may move topoint 34 d when the touch tract starts from point E and reaches point Hand the indicator 34 may move to point 34 e when the touch trace reachespoint I.

Although the predetermined touch trace is input on the touch screen 151in this embodiment, the technical spirit of this document is not limitedthereto. For example, the touch trace for adjusting the lens positionmay be configured to be input through the first guide 10.

Furthermore, the controller 180 may return the lens to the originalposition (the position after the focusing is performed at S430) whenreceiving a predetermined command.

The controller 180 may perform focusing based on the specific point whenthe lens position is changed as described above [S460]. Then, thecontroller 180 may receive an image capturing command [S470] and capturethe image according to the image capturing command [S480]. Steps S470and S480 respectively correspond to steps S350 and S360 in the aboveembodiment shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a process of capturing an image in amobile terminal according to another embodiment of the present inventionand FIGS. 25 through 37 are diagrams illustrating the image capturingprocess shown in FIG. 24.

The image capturing process according to this embodiment may beimplemented in the mobile terminal 100 described above with reference toFIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. The image capturing process in the mobile terminal100 and the operation of the mobile terminal 100 to implement the imagecapturing process will now be explained in detail with reference to theattached drawings.

Referring to FIG. 24, the controller 180 may display a preview imagecaptured through the camera 121 on the touch screen 151 [S500]. StepS500 corresponds to step S300 in the above embodiment shown in FIG. 9.

The controller 180 may receive touch input for designating a pluralityof points on the preview image [S510] and perform multi-focusing on thedesignated points [S520]. Steps S510 and S520 may be executed in variousmanners, which will be now explained according to various embodiments ofthe present invention.

Referring to FIG. 25, the controller 180 may display the first guide 10at a predetermined position (the center of the touch screen 131) whendisplaying the preview image on the touch screen 151. The preview imageshown in FIG. 25 includes three objects 40, 41 and 42. These threeobjects 40, 41 and 42 are composed of sub objects corresponding to theface and body of a person.

Referring to FIG. 26, the user may touch a point included in the firstguide 10. The controller 180 may additionally display a second guide 44having the same size as the first guide 10, as shown in FIG. 27, whenthe point in the first guide 10 is touched.

When the user touches a point included in the first guide 10 or thesecond guide 44, as shown in FIG. 28, the controller 180 mayadditionally display a third guide 45 having the same size as the firstand second guides 10 and 44, as shown in FIG. 29. That is, a guideidentical to the first guide 10 may be additionally displayed on thetouch screen 151 whenever the user touches the first guide 10. The usermay move the first, second and third guides 10, 44 and 45 to desiredpoints.

Referring to FIG. 30, the user may drag the third guide 45 to drop thethird guide 45 on a face 40 a included in a third object 40. Referringto FIG. 31, the user may touch the face 40 a included in the thirdobject 40 with a finger.

The controller 180 may move the third guide 45 to the face 40 a anddisplay the third guide 45 thereon, as shown in FIG. 32, according tothe drag-and-drop operation shown in FIG. 30 and the touch operationshown in FIG. 31. Here, the aforementioned embodiment shown in FIG. 9may be applied to the third guide 45. That is, the controller 180 maydetermine the focusing area for focusing on the face 40 a while varyingthe size of the third guide 45.

The controller 180 can receive touch input for designating the faces 40a, 41 a and 42 a respectively included in the first, second and thirdobjects 40, 41 and 42 from the user according to the above method (referto FIG. 30 or 31)

FIG. 33 illustrates an example that the first, second and third guides10, 44 and 45 are displayed respectively corresponding to the faces 42a, 41 a and 40 a upon receiving the touch input for designating thefaces 40 a, 41 a and 42 a. Here, the controller 180 can determinefocusing areas for the faces 40 a, 41 a and 42 a, as described above.

The controller 180 may perform multi-focusing based on the determinedfocusing areas. The multi-focusing can be sequentially carried out whenthe focusing areas are determined as the first, second and third guides10, 44 and 45 are displayed corresponding to the 42 a, 41 a and 40 a.Furthermore, the multi-focusing may be automatically performed when thecontroller 180 receives a predetermined command signal or apredetermined condition is satisfied.

For example, when the focusing areas for the faces 40 a, 41 a and 42 aare determined, as shown in FIG. 33, the controller 180 canautomatically perform the multi-focusing based on the faces 40 a, 41 aand 42 a.

Referring to FIG. 37, when the user touches a point of the touch screen151 and maintains the touch for a predetermined time (long touch), thecontroller 180 can perform the multi-focusing based on the faces 40 a,41 a and 42 a.

The controller 180 can execute steps S510 and S520 in a manner differentfrom the manner explained with reference to FIGS. 25 to 33.

For example, when the user touches the specific object 41 a, as shown inFIG. 34, the controller 180 can display the first guide 10 such that thefirst guide 10 corresponds to the touched object 41. Here, thecontroller 180 can determine the focusing area for focusing on thetouched object 41 a while varying the size of the first guide 10, asdescribed above.

Referring to FIG. 35, when the user touches the object 40 a while thefirst guide 10 is displayed corresponding to the object 41 a, thecontroller 180 may display the second guide 44 corresponding to theobject 40 a. In this manner, a new AFG can be generated and displayedwhenever the user touches an object that the user wants to focus. Thecontroller 180 can determine the focusing area whenever a new AFG isdisplayed according to the above embodiment shown in FIG. 9.

Referring to FIG. 36, when plural objects 40 a and 41 a aresimultaneously touched (multi-touch), the controller 180 may recognizethe multi-touch as touch input for designating the objects 40 a and 41 aand perform multi-focusing for the objects 40 a and 41 a. Themulti-touch may be applied to two, three or more points (which maycorrespond to objects) if the user can touch the points.

The controller 180 may receive an image capturing command from the user[S530] and capture the image on which the multi-focusing has beenperformed according to the image capturing command [S540]. Steps S530and S540 respectively correspond to steps S350 and S360 shown in FIG. 9.

In the multi-focusing in this embodiment of the invention, priority maybe given to at least part of plural points based on a predeterminedstandard and focusing accuracy may depend on the priority. That is, apoint having a high priority can be focused with high accuracy. Thepredetermined standard may include a variety of standards. A method ofgiving priority based on various standards will now be explained indetail.

The controller 180 may give the priority based on the time when thecontroller 180 receives the touch input for multi-focusing. For example,the controller 180 can give the highest priority to the face 41 acorresponding to the first point touched for the multi-focusing, asshown in FIGS. 34 and 35. The controller 180 may perform focusing withthe highest accuracy on the face 41 a when performing the multi-focusingon the faces 40 a, 41 a and 42 a.

In addition, the controller 180 can give a priority lower than that ofthe face 41 a and higher than that of the face 42 a to the face 40 a andperform the multi-focusing according to the given priorities.

Furthermore, the controller 180 may give the priority based on whetheran object corresponding to a specific point among plural points touchedfor the multi-focusing corresponds to data stored in the memory 160. Forexample, if the specific face 40 a among the faces 40 a, 41 a and 42 ashown in FIG. 33 is an object registered in a contact book (for example,phonebook) stored in the memory 160, the controller 180 can give a highpriority to the specific face 40 a. If another specific face 41 a isregistered as a friend according to a Social Network Service (SNS)application or corresponds to a person with whom the user of the mobileterminal 100 exchanged data through the application, the controller 180can give a high priority to the specific face 41 a.

Moreover, the controller 180 may give the priority based on whether aspecific point among plural points corresponds to an area having a largenumber of objects classified as a specific type. For example, when manypeople gather in an area corresponding to a specific point among theplural points designated for the multi-focusing, the controller 180 cangive a higher priority to that point.

In addition, the controller 180 may give the priority based on the sizesof AFGs respectively corresponding to the plural points. Referring toFIG. 33, the first guide 10 has the largest size (that is, the largestfocusing area is determined for the first guide 10), and thus thecontroller 180 can give the highest priority to the face 42 acorresponding to the first guide 10.

Meantime, it may be required to change a specific point for focusingbecause the user changes his/her mind or makes a mistake while pluralguides (for example, the first, second and third guides 10, 44 and 45shown in FIG. 33) are displayed.

To prepare for this case, the controller 180 may display a soft key (notshown) for resetting on the touch screen 151. For example, when the usertouches the reset soft key in the state shown in FIG. 33, all the first,second and third guides 10, 44 and 45 disappear and the process returnsto the stage before the multi-focusing is performed.

Furthermore, when the user touches a specific guide among the first,second and third guides 10, 44 and 45 in the state shown in FIG. 33, thecontroller 180 may delete the touched guide from the touch screen 151and cancel focusing for the touched guide. That is, display and deletionof a specific guide can be repeated whenever the user touches thespecific guide in a toggle manner.

The above-described embodiments can be applied to a case that a panoramaimage including plural images is photographed.

FIGS. 38, 39 and 40 are diagrams illustrating an example to which theabove-described embodiments of the invention are applied when a panoramaimage is photographed.

Referring to FIG. 38, when the mobile terminal 100 enters a mode ofphotographing a panorama image including plural images through thecamera 121, the controller 180 may display a fixed guide 50 on apredetermined position on preview images respectively corresponding tothe plural images and display a moving guide 51 moving with the movementof the mobile terminal 100 to connect the plural images.

In FIG. 38, reference numeral 52 represents images captured beforepreview images currently displayed on the touch screen 151 and includedin the panorama image. FIG. 38 shows that the panorama image includesthree images 52 a, 52 b and 52 c. In addition, a preview image includingtwo objects 11 and 54 is displayed on the touch screen 151 in FIG. 38.The user may touch a specific object 11 a according to theabove-describe embodiment of the present invention to focus on thespecific object 11 a. Furthermore, the user may touch a photographingsoft key 13 to capture the currently displayed preview image. Uponcapturing the currently displayed preview image, the moving guide 51moves to the right edge of the touch screen 151, as shown in FIG. 39,and the mobile terminal 100 enters a preview image display mode.

As shown in FIG. 39, the panorama image is composed of four images 52 a,52 b, 52 c and 52 d, which include the image 52 d captured in the stepshown in FIG. 38. The user may move the mobile terminal 100 to theright, as shown in FIG. 40, in order to capture the next image toconstruct the panorama image, that is, the next image following theimage 52 d captured in the step shown in FIG. 38.

The moving guide 51 moves to the fixed guide 50 as the mobile terminal100 moves to the right, as shown in FIG. 40. The user can capture imagesconstructing the panorama image using the fixed guide 50 and the movingguide 51 so as to connect the images seamlessly.

As described above, the aforementioned embodiments can be applied tocapturing images constructing a panorama image.

The above-described image capturing method in a mobile terminal equippedwith a touch screen according to the present invention may be recordedin computer-readable recording media as a program for being executed incomputers. The image capturing method in the mobile terminal equippedwith the touch screen according to the present invention may be executedthrough software. When the image capturing is executed through thesoftware, the constituting means of the present invention are codesegments executing a necessary task. Programs or code segments may bestored in processor-readable media or transmitted through computer datasignals combined with carriers over transmission media or acommunication network.

Computer-readable recording media include all kinds of recording devicesin which data capable of being read by a computer system is stored. Forexample, the computer-readable recording media may include ROM, RAM,CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, hard disks, andoptical data storages. The computer-readable recording media may also bestored and executed as codes, which are distributed into computerapparatuses connected over a network and readable by computers in adistributed manner.

According to the inventive mobile terminal including the touch screenand the method of capturing images using the same, focusing can beperformed on any object which is present at a specific position on apreview image to be captured by a simple touch input action. Theposition to be focused may be changed easily through a simple touchinput method without the need for searching a menu or manipulating a keybutton, thereby facilitating user convenience.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, itis intended that the present invention covers the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile terminal comprising: a camera; a touchscreen display; and a controller configured to: control the touch screendisplay to display an image that is received via the camera for preview,the image including at least one object to be focused on; recognize atleast one touch input on at least one specific point of the displayedimage via the touch screen display; control the touch screen display todisplay at least a first guide having a predetermined size at orsubstantially near the at least one specific point of the imagedisplayed in response to the at least one touch input, a size of thedisplayed at least a first guide being adjusted according to a size ofthe at least one object; determine at least one focusing area forfocusing on the at least one object corresponding to the at least onespecific point; perform focusing on the at least one object based on thedetermined at least one focusing area; and control the camera to capturethe received image with the focused at least one object.
 2. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured todetermine the at least a first guide having a minimum size as the atleast one focusing area, wherein the minimum size of the at least afirst guide results from the at least a first guide being adjusted tosubstantially include the at least one object.
 3. The mobile terminal ofclaim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to perform facerecognition processing on the at least one focusing area in order torecognize the at least one object included in the at least one focusingarea as a person's face.
 4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein thecontroller is further configured to control the touch screen display todisplay at least one menu for applying image characterization processingto the recognized face.
 5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is further configured to: generate a panoramic imageincluding a plurality of images by controlling the camera to captureeach of the plurality of images separately and combining the capturedplurality of images into the panoramic image; control the touch screendisplay to display a second guide on a designated portion, the secondguide including images corresponding to the captured plurality ofimages; and control the touch screen display to display a third guidethat is configured to move according to a direction of movement of themobile terminal, the third guide being moved to provide guidance for animage to be captured via the camera and combining with the capturedplurality of images.
 6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein thecamera includes a movable lens and the controller is further configuredto recognize a predefined input and control the camera in response tothe predefined input to adjust a pointing direction of the movable lensto perform fine adjustment on the focused at least one object.
 7. Themobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the predefined input comprises atouch input with a specific pattern that is received through a portionof the touch screen display or received via a specific guide displayedon the touch screen display.
 8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, whereinthe controller is further configured to control the camera to adjust thepointing direction of the movable lens based on at least a movingdistance or a moving direction of the predefined input.
 9. The mobileterminal of claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured tocontrol the camera to adjust the pointing direction of the movable lensdiscontinuously in response to the predefined input.
 10. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:perform multi-focusing on the plurality of objects; recognize aplurality of touch inputs designating a plurality of specific pointscorresponding to a plurality of objects on the displayed image on thedisplayed image; and control the camera to capture the image with themulti-focused plurality of objects.
 11. The mobile terminal of claim 10,wherein the controller is further configured to control the touch screendisplay to display a plurality of guides for guiding focusing on each ofthe plurality of objects in response to the plurality of touch inputs,the plurality of touch inputs being received at or substantially nearthe plurality of specific points of the displayed image.
 12. The mobileterminal of claim 11, wherein: the controller is further configured tocontrol the touch screen display to display the plurality of guides onthe corresponding plurality of specific points in response to theplurality of touch inputs; and the plurality of guides are either formedand displayed sequentially at a designated portion of the touch screendisplay with each of the plurality of guides is dragged to acorresponding one of the plurality of specific points or formed anddisplayed directly over the plurality of specific touched points on thetouch screen display.
 13. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein eachof the plurality of guides is movable and the controller is furtherconfigured to perform focusing on each object that corresponds to one ofthe plurality of guides according to movement of the guide.
 14. Themobile terminal of claim 10, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to: assign different priorities to at least a portion of theplurality of specific points based on preset criteria; and perform thefocusing according to the assigned priorities of the at least a portionof the plurality of specific points such that a specific point with ahigher assigned priority is more accurately focused than a specificpoint with a lower assigned priority.
 15. The mobile terminal of claim14, wherein the preset criteria comprise at least a chronological orderin which the plurality of touch inputs have been received at theplurality of specific points.
 16. The mobile terminal of claim 14,wherein: a specific point corresponding to an object that matches datastored in a memory of the mobile terminal is assigned a higher prioritythan a specific point corresponding to an object that does not match anydata stored in the memory; the matching data is pre-stored in thememory; and the controller is further configured to match the object byrecognizing the object and comparing the recognized object with the datastored in the memory.
 17. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein thecontroller is further configured to: assign a higher priority to aspecific point that corresponds to an area where a number of objectsclassified as a specific type is greater than a threshold; and assign alower priority to a specific point that corresponds to an area where anumber of objects classified as the specific type is less than thethreshold.
 18. A method of capturing an image in a mobile terminalcomprising a camera and a touch screen display, the method comprising:displaying, on the touch screen display, an image that is received viathe camera for preview, the image including at least one object to befocused on; receiving at least one touch input on at least one specificpoint of the displayed image via the touch screen display; displaying,on the touch screen display, at least one guide having a predeterminedsize at or substantially near the at least one specific point inresponse to the at least one touch input; adjusting a size of thedisplayed at least one guide according to a size of the at least oneobject being focused on; determining at least one focusing area forfocusing on the at least one object corresponding to the at least onespecific point; performing focusing on the at least one object based onthe determined at least one focusing area; and capturing, with thecamera, the received image with the focused at least one object.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, further comprising: receiving, via the touch screendisplay, a plurality of touch inputs on a plurality of specific pointsof the display image, the plurality of touch inputs being received at orsubstantially near a corresponding plurality of objects included in thedisplayed image; displaying a plurality of guides, each of the pluralityof guides being displayed at or substantially near a corresponding oneof the plurality of specific points in response to the plurality oftouch inputs; determining a plurality of focusing areas for focusing onthe plurality of objects corresponding to the plurality of specificpoints; performing multi focusing on the plurality of objects based onthe determined plurality of focusing areas; and capturing, with thecamera, the received image with the plurality of multi-focused objects.20. A method of capturing an image in a mobile terminal comprising acamera with a movable lens and a touch screen display, the methodcomprising: displaying, on the touch screen display, a preview imagereceived via the camera; receiving, via the touch screen display, afirst touch input on a specific point of the preview image; displaying aguide over the specific point of the preview image in response to thefirst touch input; performing focusing on an object substantiallycorresponding to the specific point based on the guide; adjusting apointing direction of the movable lens of the camera to perform fineadjustment of the focusing in response to a second touch inputcomprising a predefined pattern, the pointing direction of the movablelens adjusted according to at least a moving distance or a movingdirection of the second touch input; and capturing, via the camera, thepreview image with the fine adjustment focused object.